ANOTHER VACCINE ON THE HORIZON!
... but UK faces wait as ministers failed to pre-order
A NEW vaccine has been found to have better results than the Pfizer jab hailed last week – but the UK may have to wait for other countries to get it first.
Experts greeted the ‘tremendously exciting’ news that the jab from US biotech firm Moderna is 94.5 per cent effective against the virus.
It follows news of the world’s first successful coronavirus vaccine a few days ago, from German biotech firm BioNtech and pharmaceutical company Pfizer, which is 90 per cent effective.
But the Moderna vaccine was not one of the six the Government had bought up in advance, leaving officials in a last-minute scramble to secure just five million doses expected to arrive in late spring.
The deal was struck half an hour before UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock
‘It’s brilliant news, absolutely brilliant’
addressed yesterday’s Downing Street Press conference at 5pm.
Each patient will require two jabs, and so this initial batch will provide only enough doses for 2.5 million people. The Government has the option to buy more doses from Moderna later on.
The new vaccine uses similar technology to that of the Pfizer jab, but has the advantage of not needing to be kept in ultra- cold storage.
Yesterday’s news has raised hopes that several jabs could become available early next year.
The Moderna drugs trial involved more than 30,000 volunteers in the US, including many who are elderly or considered a high risk.
Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, said: ‘ This news from Moderna is tremendously exciting and considerably boosts optimism that we will have a choice of good vaccines.’
A deal to get the Moderna vaccine is understood to have been delayed by the Government over concerns over its European supply chain. The last-ditch attempt to strike a deal with Moderna, following its interim results announcement, will see the UK get five million doses between April and June.
The US, the EU, Japan and Canada have al r eady made advance purchases of many millions of doses.
Labour MP Bill Esterson said ministers had made ‘mistake after mistake’. He added: ‘This time it’s the failure to buy the Moderna vaccine when loads of other countries did. Matt Hancock told us we could get a vaccine faster if we didn’t join the EU vaccine purchase scheme. How’s that going?’ But Mr Hancock said: ‘Today’s announcement is excellent news and an encouraging step forward in our fight against Covid-19.
‘We have moved swiftly to secure five million doses of this hugely promising vaccine meaning we are even better placed to vaccinate everyone who will benefit should the rigorous safety standards be met.’
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said the vaccine task force had to ‘spread our bets’ over different types of vaccine, taking i nto account the timing of when they were available. When the Pfizer vaccine results emerged last week, he compared it to a goal in a penalty shoot-out.
Yesterday he told the Downing Street press conference: ‘ It’s brilliant news, absolutely brilliant. It’s the second penalty now, that’s also gone into the back of the net. So we’re starting to feel in a better position.’
Dr Charlie Weller, head of vaccines at Wellcome, said: ‘To have multiple vaccine candidates with interim results that surpass our expectations is phenomenal, and testament to the incredible global research effort this year.’
Results on the vaccine developed by Oxford University are hoped to be available this week.